(TITC) – On 26th June 2023, the Consultation meeting for the Development of Project Documents “Swiss tourism for sustainable development in Vietnam” was held in Ha Long City (Quang Ninh Province).

VNAT’s Vice Chairman Mr. Ha Van Sieu

To support Vietnam’s tourism sector becomes more sustainable and inclusive, The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) officially funded to the Project “Swiss tourism for Sustainable Tourism Development” (ST4SD) in the period of 2023 – 2027.

The key stakeholders of project are Vietnam National Administration of Tourism – VNAT; People’s Committees of provinces/cities where the project is implemented (destination clusters); Tourism associations at national and subnational levels, Tourism Development Fund; Vocational as well as management/hospitality and tourism education institutions in both public and private sectors; and Tourism pioneering businesses in transforming sustainable service models.

ST4SD will strengthen the sustainability and inclusiveness of Vietnam's tourism industry through 3 outcomes. Outcome 1: Supporting national policy makers to foster sustainable tourism – National and subnational action plans, master plans and other policies. Outcome 2: Vietnamese training institutions have been strengthened to provide training and develop skills and expertise in hospitality industry. Outcome 3: Tourist destinations and companies have become more sustainable in their operation and investments.

Mr. Ken Wood - Director of project

The main expected results of project are supporting national and subnational action plans, master plans and other policies to foster sustainable tourism development. Through the project, businesses and local people directly engaged in tourism have the opportunity to raise awareness, build capacity, and changing behavior in protecting, managing and contributing to the development of a more diverse ecological environment. The project also focuses on developing business models and sustainable tourism products. Thereby, the project aims to develop sustainable, comprehensive, circular tourism associated with nature conservation and improving livelihoods.

Welcoming the Swiss Government's decision to support Vietnam tourism industry through the ST4SD, VNAT’s Vice Chairman Mr. Ha Van Sieu emphasized that the project is proposed at an important time for Vietnam's tourism industry when the Vietnam Tourism Development Strategy and the Vietnam Tourism Marketing Strategy until 2030 have been approved. In addition, the project can also help address the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on Vietnam's tourism industry.

Switzerland has the  developed and famous tourism industry in the world. The country owns many landscapes and tourism resources similar to Vietnam such as mountain tourism, rural tourism, etc. Tourism training institutions in Switzerland are known to be prestigious vocational skills training schools in fields of hospitality management, restaurant management and food processing, travel and tourism, etc.

Therefore, VNAT’s Vice Chairman expects that with the sponsorship of the Swiss Government, the advanced tourism development and management experience, high training level will be transferred to the Vietnam tourism industry.

The consultation meeting focused on clarifying the works and how to implement the work in four years to achieve the project goals. The project is in the launching stage, developing and finalizing project documents to submit to competent authorities.

Therefore, in order to get maximum efficiency to the tourism industry and beneficiaries, Mr. Ha Van Sieu suggested the members of the Working Group, representatives of departments under the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, local tourism management departments and experts in the field of tourism actively discussed and contributed to the development of project documents.

At the meeting, experts exchanged, shared and presented presentations on Proposing some ideas for building sustainable tourism policies in Vietnam; Preliminary assessment of tourism and hospitality training in Vietnam; The current state of responsible tourism in the localities and businesses…

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